http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/matchday/fair-play.html At the moment we are 3rd in the Fair Play League behind Arsenal (how on earth are they first!!) and Fulham (who always seem to be up there). So at the moment, there is a chance we could be in next season's Europa League! Glad we are maintaining discipline during matches. And we got stuck in yesterday, lots of good tackles made and no cards. At the end of the season I hope we are not in the scenario of being relegated but winning the fair play league. There would be far too many games!
It's only partially decided on cards, other things like fan behaviour, respect to opponents(?), and attacking play are taken into account. It's a very small chance though, only three teams across the whole of Europe get a Europa spot through fair play.
This is key. We have to be the fairest team in one of the three fairest leagues in Europe so it's really very unlikely.
Well, it is possible. But the chances are slim. I'm not sure it would really be a good thing though to be honest, I'd like us to be capable of comfortably staying up before we even consider playing a whole load more games.
Genuinely proud of the way we go about our football and would love to win this league just so I can see more of southampton play.
That's a good point a few Geordies moaning about the disruption of the European matches. Would be good for the youngsters though!
I'm split, on the one hand, European football can be a huge distraction and can have a physical and mental toll on a team's league campaign. On the other hand... How great would it be to have Saints competing and showcasing our talents in Europe?! In the unlikely circumstances of us actually qualifying through Fair Play... I'd probably be chuffed. We'd need to deepen our squad in the summer though, for sure.
I've managed it on Football Manager once while finishing 17th! If we did qualify, we probably wouldn't take it very seriously anyway because, as mentioned above, our Premier League survival would be way more important. Though it'd be funny to see us sending out a team including fringe players like Chaplow and De Ridder, against teams like Inter and Atletico Madrid.
It seems ridiculous that teams spend all season trying to qualify for Europe and then when they get there, they don't take it seriously just because it's not the Champions League. It's like, what's the point? Not referring to Southampton but other teams *cough*Tottenham*cough*
Not this season to be fair. They have been playing strong teams in the Europa League this season. Bale, Lennon, Defoe etc have all been regulars.
I think the two Europa League Finalists should get into the Champions League. Winner straight into groups, runner-up into play-offs. Would give teams a much bigger incentive to take it seriously, especially teams like Spurs, Liverpool, Atletico, Valencia, Udinese, Roma, Lazio etc. who all have a tough task of qualifying directly in their leagues but would add greatly to the Champions League rather than teams like Dinamo Zagreb who just get blown out. That and more prize money, you get the same amount for winning the Europa League as you do for getting into the group stages of the Champions League... Just seems daft.
I'm sure I read somewhere that you make little money from the Europa League with all the travel costs etc (presumably unless you win it).
